Greene ranks among healthiest counties

GREENE COUNTY — Greene County ranked among the top healthiest counties in Ohio, according to a study by SmartAsset on America’s Healthiest Places.

SmartAsset, a personal finance technology company, conducted the study to determine places where purchasing life insurance would be more favorable.

Greene County ranked the sixth healthiest county in Ohio. Nationally, Greene County ranked at 428.

Three factors drove the analysis: Length of Life, Health Behaviors and Healthcare Access.

The Length of Life rate measures the years of potential life lost before the age of 75 per 100,000 residents. This provides an inverse measure of life expectancy. Greene County’s number was 5,779, compared to the state, which was 7,631.

The Health Behaviors index reflects the counties with the healthiest behaviors, measured in three ways: the percentage of adults that are current smokers, the percentage of adults that are obese and the percentage of adults that report binge or heavy drinking. Each of these data points were indexed on a scale of 0 to 100, weighted into an average, and then indexed.

The company considered access to healthcare as another measure of health. This factor measured the rate of primary care physicians per 100,000 residents and the uninsured rate, or the percentage of population under age 65 without health insurance. These data points were indexed on a scale of 0 to 100, weighted as an average, and then indexed.

The primary care physicians rate measured 92 for Greene County and 53 for Ohio. The uninsured rate was 11.2 percent for Greene County and 13.2 percent for Ohio.

A weighted average of these three factors was used to find the overall healthiest places in the country. A 50 percent weight was used for Length of Life, a 30 percent weight used for Health Behaviors and a 20 percent used for Healthcare Access. Higher values reflect the healthiest places. Greene County’s final number was 76.93. \